The aim of this study is to show how modern Arabic literature and poetry could help in the effort to understand modern Arab society and its problems. 

If we begin to talk about intercultural communication and use terms of linguistics we have to concede that a metalanguage is necessary if two cultures want to establish successful communication, in much the same way as two researchers from two different countries would use English as a metalanguage to exchange their ideas. This study wants to show that poetry could also function as that metalanguage. 

The first part of this study is dedicated to the role of poetry in pre-Islamic society. With the advent of Islam we have to take a look on the relation between poetry and revelation. If we talk about the role of poetry we will have also to talk about the poet himself and his role in society. 1400 years ago, and up until the present day, the poet has played an important role: His ability to put complex motifs into a text, to collect the memories and experiences of his society in a form of lyrical art makes him the personified memory of his community. His works are a possible metalanguage in the dialogue of cultures, able to transfer emotion and create an empathy that is the key for cultural understanding. Literature is a mirror of the society from which it emanates. 

This study also has a practical approach. At 10^th October 2009 six young Egyptian poets in their twenties, writing in Standard Arabic and Colloquial Arabic, presented their poems at the Goethe-Institute in Cairo at an event entitled Poetry for Knowledge and Cultural Dialogue, organized and conceived by the author of this article under the umbrella of the Center for Cultural Dialogue and Translation. Their poems were chosen before the event because they as sources to help us understand something about the fears, dreams and opinions of these young people representing their community. They also presented poetry of famous artists (Mahmoud Darwish, Nizar Qabbani, Ahmad Fouad Negm, Salah Jaheen and Fouad Haddad) who were, or are themselves not only influential and inspiring figures for their communities but also, even if unwillingly, participants in an intercultural dialogue.